Theolair News

FRIDAY, June 12, 2015 – Asthma treatments, especially inhaled corticosteroids, are less likely to work for older patients, a new study suggests. Researchers looked at 1,200 patients with mild-to-moderate asthma, and found that treatment failure occurred in about 17 percent of those aged 30 and older, compared with about 10 percent of those younger than 30. Lower lung function and having asthma for a longer time were associated with a higher risk of treatment failure. When the researchers focused on specific therapies, they found that treatment failure increased consistently for every year above age 30 among patients who used inhaled corticosteroids. Patients aged 30 and older who used inhaled corticosteroids, either alone or in combination with other therapies, were more than twice as likely to have treatment failure than those younger than 30, the investigators found. Men and women ... Read more

MONDAY, Dec. 5 – About one in three children with asthma is currently using a preventive medication, according to new research. That number is up from about 18 percent of kids during the late 1980s. Preventive asthma medications help control the airway disease before symptoms flare up, and guidelines from the U.S. National Asthma Education and Prevention Program recommend their use. "The main finding from our study was that over 20 years, the use of medicines to prevent asthma has increased among children with asthma," said the study's lead author, Dr. Brian Kit, a medical epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. Commenting on the study, Dr. Shean Aujla, a pediatric pulmonologist at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, said, "I think it's encouraging that there's been an increase in the use of preventive ... Read more